by Danielle Fowler Devi, Nischala Joy. The Secret Power of Yoga: A Women’s Guide to the Heart and Spirit of the Yoga Sutras. New York, Three Rivers Press, Random House, Inc., 2007. An innovative, readable and insightful commentary of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra. Written from a feminine, heart-centered perspective this book is revolutionary, if not controversial. Devi has broken the mold of traditional, scholarly approaches of understanding the...

By Kelly Birch Nischala Joy Devi is an internationally respected yoga teacher, well known for her heart-centered approach to spirituality and scripture. She was a monastic disciple of Sri Swami Satchidananda for over twenty years and was educated by yoga masters in India and worldwide. She developed the yoga protocols for Dean Ornishʼs Program for Reversing Heart Disease and co-founded the Commonweal Cancer Help Program, which culminated in the...

By Integral Yoga Magazine Nischala Devi’s book, The Secret Power of Yoga, reinterprets Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras for our modern times and from a woman’s perspective. She views the path of Raja Yoga as a path with eight facets that are interconnected and interwoven. In this interview, she shines a light on the five yamas, illuminating what can happen when we live our lives according to our divine essence and higher nature. Integral Yoga...

By Nischala Joy Devi. Compassion is the sacred energy that flows through the heart chakra to each and every living thing in the universe. When accessed it allows us to feel a sense of onesness with all. As yoga students and teachers, compassion blossoms as our inner guidance. It constantly reminds us that it is not the exactness of a technique that gives students the experience of Yoga, but the ability to access our own sacred...

By Nischala Joy Devi. Deepen your connection to the earth and find new ways to care for her. I have a fond memory from some years ago of accompanying my teacher Sri Swami Satchidananda, one of the 20th century’s great yoga masters, on a walk in the park. I was one of three people walking behind him and I was enjoying the beauty of the day and the feel of the soft, slightly damp grass under my feet. Realizing that many creatures were living...